Over $100,000 raised online to help clean up Lumberton

LUMBERTON, NC (WMBF) - Hurricane Matthew recovery continues in Lumberton, and the city will soon decide how to spend more than $100,000.

Lumberton City Attorney Holt Moore said the city created a GoFundMe account and, over time, the donations continued to rise.

"Individuals, companies, we've had some very nice corporate donations, anonymous donors, just a total combination," Moore said. "It's a really beautiful thing to see people from far and near."

During a policy committee meeting on Wednesday, a motion was approved to have the city council help reimburse the non-profits who have assisted in the rebuilding process and feeding those in need.

Moore said the need remains and it's the city's job to make sure the funding and reimbursements go to the right places, especially this long after Matthew hit.

"There's still people that are displaced, some people who haven't even started working on their homes for various reasons, (with) a lot of that having to do with funding," he said. "So hopefully we will get the money where it needs to go and get people back in their homes."

To help reimburse the city for repairs made to departments destroyed by flooding, Moore said officials are going through public assistance with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"In this situation though, we are serving as a g- between with the state, who is proving the funding, and the federal government," Moore said. "Other than our GoFundMe account, which we are glad to pass along, you know we aren't raising taxes in the city to go and provide money ourselves. We're more of a conduit with the state and the federal government."

The water plant and the electrical facilities department were both flooded out. According to Moore, it cost roughly $1.3 million for the repairs to the plant alone.

"We were able to get it back operating within a few days after the flood, but it had a lot of significant damage," Moore said.

WMBF News Staff

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